Denmark finds first case of bird flu

COPENHAGEN - Denmark has found its first case of the highly pathogenic H5 bird flu virus in a wild fowl, officials said today.

It was still unclear if the case was the deadly H5N1 strain. So far H5N1 has never been found in Denmark.

Denmark, a major poultry producer with an output worth 3 billion crowns ($483.5 million) a year, has been on guard against bird flu since disease was found on the German Baltic island of Ruegen, near Denmark's southern coast in mid-February.

Denmark has since examined more than 100 dead wild birds for avian flu. Neighboring Sweden reported its first bird flu case on February 28.

"We have been expecting this and are prepared," Jan Pedersen, General Manger of the Danish Poultrymeat Association, told Reuters. "We have further tightened our rules to make sure that the virus is kept out of our poultry sheds."

The H5N1 virus usually kills poultry within 48 hours and can infect people who come into close contract with sick birds.

- REUTERS